Understanding the IIoT Ecosystem

It's more than just the cloud

Before companies decide about moving to the Industrial Internet, they first need to be clear on what it is. They need to understand that it is more than just the cloud. Instead, it is an entire ecosystem—of end users, partners, industrial assets, sensors, connectivity mechanisms, and more—that works together to collect and send data from sensors and controllers and other embedded devices sitting in an OT environment at a remote site all the way to the cloud.

With an understanding of this edge-to-cloud concept, the search can begin for the right Industrial Internet platform. Fortunately, there are resources available to help a company get started, including the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA). A non-profit organization whose mission is to promote the use of best practices for securing cloud computing environments, CSA offers an entire framework on how to adopt the cloud, including objective guidance on cloud standards, certifications, training, and more. With such heavy scrutiny around cloud adoption, it’s important for organizations to have a place to go for advice on how to assess public clouds against industry-established security best practices and learn what “tough” questions they should be asking providers.

To facilitate Compliance, GE Digital set out to build a platform on a common infrastructure governance model based on ISO 27001/2, NIST 800-53 and FIPS 140-2. This common “matrix” on controls would then mapped to Cloud Security Alliance Cloud Controls Matrix which would enable it to support compliance to over 60 national, international and governing body regulations with the effort of a single one.

It’s also important for industrial companies to realize that a move to the cloud doesn’t happen overnight. It’s not a one-and-done conversation with a cloud provider. Rather, it’s a journey. This is the industrial sector, after all, where implications are much different from those in enterprise IT environments. To build the level of trust and confidence necessary to move sensitive, often mission-critical data to a public cloud takes time, many meetings, and full transparency into a provider’s strategy, especially when it comes to multi-tenancy and data security.

Partnering on Digital Transformation

At your service on the journey

GE Digital built Predix Platform not as a simple IT play, but with the intention to reboot global productivity. Predix Platform was designed for the industry by the industry. With our long experience in the industrial sector, we know how big industries operate. We know their businesses. We know their constraints. We know how they have historically operated from within their own four walls and understand the scrutiny they are under when it comes to regulatory compliance mandates.

Whether companies are brand-new to the concept of cloud, have adopted public IT clouds only to learn they can’t meet the demands of the industrial sector, or have built from scratch their own internal clouds only to find out they aren’t functioning as well—or securely—as intended, GE Digital can help guide them on the journey toward a cloud that can meet their unique requirements. And to do that, it’s our job to build trust in Predix Platform.

By working with companies to answer all the tough questions (about cloud architecture, security, multi-tenancy, governance, you name it), our goal is to establish a level of confidence that can allay fears about moving valuable, sensitive data and bring them closer to achieving the benefits of cloud. In short, we want to demonstrate how we’ve already done the hard work to build in security and meet stringent regulatory mandates, with Predix Platform providing support for more than 60 regulatory and compliance frameworks.

IIoT Outcomes

Create new services, improve operations, boost productivity

At the end of the day, moving to the industrial cloud is like managing any other business risk. When a company decides to build a new plant, or launch a new product, or change an operational mechanism, it takes a financial risk. With digitization and moving to the cloud, it’s the same. There is risk, but there is also incredible potential value to be derived from the ability to create and bring new services to market faster. There is value in having more detailed insight to make better decisions, optimize operational performance, and gain more granular control. A new service can bring revenue; a productivity improvement can bring cost savings.

All companies gravitate toward value and, with the industrial cloud, there are economies of scale at work. The value’s more than there. In fact, it’s estimated that Predix Platform enabled $730 million in productivity gains for customers in 2016 and we expect that number to rise to $3 billion by 2020. So whether it is predictive maintenance or asset optimization, Predix Platform allows customers to obtain the desired outcomes they seek in a secure and compliant fashion.

GE Digital

Driving Digital Transformation

GE Digital connects streams of machine data to powerful analytics and people, providing industrial companies with valuable insights to manage assets and operations more efficiently. World-class talent and software capabilities help drive digital industrial transformation for big gains in productivity, availability and longevity. We do this by leveraging Predix, our cloud-based operating system, purpose built for the unique needs of industry.